California Democratic Party

The California Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the US state of California. Upon California's admission to the union in 1850, the state was firmly in the hands of the Democratic Party, but the Republican Party held the state through the power and influence of railroad men from the end of the American Civil War in the late 1860s until the early 1880s. The Democrats responded by taking an anti-corporate, anti-freedom-of-attainment position, and the party sought to reform the booming railroad industry. The party crusaded for tariff reform and fairer railroad policies, and it also supported the large-scale railroad strikes that sprung up statewide.

The party's strength was drained by the rise of the Progressive Party during the 1920s, but Democratic strength mounted as the result of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies, which lifted the USA out of the Great Depression. The state became a battleground state for the Democrats and the Republican Party, but Republican strength and issues such as the Vietnam War led to the Republicans having a strong hold on the state's governorship during the second half of the 20th century. A consolidation of the Latino and Asian vote into Democrats would strengthen the party's hold in California, when these were previously considered core Republican supporters within the state.

In 1996, after President Bill Clinton was re-elected, the Democrats regained their majority in the State Assembly and increased their State Senate majority, and the party virtually took over California after the 1998 elections. In 2002, the Democrats held off a national Republican trend, and this feat was repeated under similar circumstances in 2010. The 2012 elections also witnessed the California Democratic Party make inroads in traditionally Republican areas: San Diego, the second largest city in California and a longtime GOP stronghold, elected a Democratic mayor for the first time since 1988; California Democrats also notched victories in other traditionally Republican areas such as the Inland Empire, Ventura County, the Central Valley, and Orange County.